THREE strikes and you're out of circulation, crooks are being told.

Posters are being put up outside the homes of suspected criminals warning that burglars and drugs dealers will go to jail.

The three-strike rule is here in England and here in Burnley. Put simply it means a person convicted for the third time for house burglary or drugs dealing will automatically be sent to prison.

In the latest stage of the Burnley Burglar Safe campaign offenders are being told of the change in the law.

Chief Superintendent Ian McPherson, Commander of the Pennine Division which includes all of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, warned: "At the end of last year the law changed, so now when an offender is convicted of a third offence of domestic burglary they will automatically go to prison for a minimum of three years.

"For drug dealers it will be at least seven years."

At Burnley Crown Court recently Judge Raymond Bennett, the honorary recorder of Burnley said: "Burglars will go to jail."

The warning is being displayed on posters throughout the Burnley Safe areas and in some cases right outside the homes of suspected criminals.

Burnley Safe operates in Burnley Wood, Stoneyholme and Daneshouse and is funded by the Home Office crime reduction programme."